


XO

by taeminki



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: I forgot to mention any of the others, M/M, also spoiler: mark and donghyuck aren't actually playing tic tac toe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 13:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11314137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeminki/pseuds/taeminki
Summary: At the end of the day (or the middle or beginning, really), Donghyuck and Minhyung always found time to play tic tac toe.





	XO

Donghyuck started out by drawing the board and placing the first **X**  in the bottom left corner. He handed the pen to Mark, but Mark didn't draw his **O**  before grabbing Donghyuck by the ear and dragging him out into the hall, all the while huffing as Donghyuck just laughed and laughed.

"What are you kids doing?" Taeyong asked, his voice on the edge of impatient. Mark let go of Donghyuck's ear quickly, and Donghyuck fell, laughing, into Mark's side, wrapping his arms around the boy's waist. Mark wasn't entirely sure how to explain himself or the argument he and Donghyuck had just had, one that left him annoyed but not completely upset. Really, he wasn't holding Donghyuck that hard, and he was only going to drag him into the living room so that they could play wrestle there, but Taeyong was getting quite sick of their rough housing, constantly warning them not to get hurt before comebacks-- which, they had one in two weeks.

"I'm sorry, hyung. I annoyed Mark-hyung too much," Donghyuck said when he realized that Taeyong wasn't going to fall for his laughter. He straightened up and he bowed; and Mark quickly followed the position. Taeyong rubbed both of their backs and told them "Be careful," and then he was off and Donghyuck maybe dragged Mark back into their room so that they would play wrestle in private and not get caught.

Then it was Mark's turn. Mark picked up the pencil and wrote **O**  to the right of Donghyuck's **X** , filling in the space so that Donghyuck might not win. He put the pencil down and stood, gently tucking his arms beneath Donghyuck's legs. The cold wind outside was enough to chill Mark to the bone, and he suddenly wished for his jacket back, but it was busy keeping Donghyuck snug. Mark carefully slid into the night air, dragging himself out of the car by his legs and landing a bit too hard on his feet. Youngho tapped Mark's back and quietly asked "Do you want me to take him?" while Taeyong turned and suggested "Wake him up, Mark-- don't hurt yourself," but Mark held Donghyuck a little closer, shaking his head against their advice, "I'm okay, hyung. I've got him," and he said it a little too loud and Donghyuck maybe stirred a bit, but one kiss to his forehead and Donghyuck tilted his head against Mark's neck and fell back into a peaceful sleep. Mark felt in less of a rush to get inside with Donghyuck's warm breath on his neck, heating up his whole body-- and then Donghyuck's arms wrapped around Mark's neck and held him. Mark wondered if he was asleep, but didn't mind either way; he carried Donghyuck back into their room and tucked him into bed.

But Donghyuck couldn't sleep quite yet; he had to crawl out of bed and pick up his pencil, place and **X**  smack in the middle of the board. He put the pencil down and stretched all the way into the living room, nearly toppling into Youngho's chest because his eyes were closed. He started for the kitchen after passing Youngho, wondering "Should I make breakfast for everyone?" and Youngho shook his head, "No. The others went out--" and he said it in English and almost corrected himself, but Donghyuck responded easily, "What about you, hyung?" in the same language. Youngho raised an eyebrow at him as he was grabbing pans and oil and eggs and setting out two plates with bread that would soon be toasted. He wondered, in Korean, "Did you understand me?" and Donghyuck nodded; Youngho wondered how and Donghyuck told him "Mark-hyung teaches me."

With that, Youngho left, and Donghyuck stayed in the kitchen for twenty minutes making breakfast for him and Mark. He gathered toast and eggs and brought the plates to his and Mark's room, where Mark was sitting up and stretching, just barely awake. Donghyuck placed the plate on his lap, and Mark smiled at him-- though curious, not asking any questions. Their breakfast was accompanied by random conversation and enough laughter to fill the rest of the silence. Afterwards, they returned to their game of tic tac toe-- Mark's turn. He placed his **O**  in the top right corner and knew exactly where Donghyuck would place his next **X** , but he didn't get a chance to do so-- not yet, not while Mark was busy taking their dishes to the kitchen and washing them up; not while Mark was busy humming Donghyuck's lines in their songs.

Mark stretched himself out in the practice room, reaching for his toes as he stretched and stretched and stretched. He felt a weight on his back, and Donghyuck was suddenly splayed against him, forcing him to stretch more. "Ah-- Donghyuck--" Mark said, and he might have been concerned with himself bending too far if he wasn't more worried about Donghyuck sliding off his back, so he sacrificed balancing himself to grab onto Donghyuck's sides and whine at him, "Donghyuck, it hurts--" and Donghyuck giggled a little, but carefully rolled off of Mark's back, keeping steady at Mark's hands.

Mark's fingers were tired when they went back to playing, but it wasn't his turn anyway. It was Donghyuck's, but he put his **X**  beneath Mark's **O**  instead of to the left of it-- strange, strange, strange, but Mark didn't ask-- just like he didn't ask why Donghyuck kissed his forehead and his knuckles as they were getting ready for bed that night.

Mark debated on letting Donghyuck win-- putting his **O**  in one of the three spaces that would just let Donghyuck win, but Mark didn't go down that easily, especially not with Donghyuck. He placed his **O**  exactly where it needed to be-- one block to the left of the middle. Donghyuck didn't have the chance to glare at him-- not when they were being hustled into the van and driven off to their next schedules, not when Donghyuck was searching around for water bottles and hot tea and anything to soothe his throat, which he'd been overworking lately. Mark watched him carefully, nervous that Donghyuck would damage his throat or his vocal cords. He twisted his microphone in his hands and found Donghyuck in the crowd of NCT members. He grabbed Donghyuck by the shoulder and pulled him in, placing a kiss that he _wished_  was magical on Donghyuck's neck. Donghyuck didn't flinch; he looked at Mark, confused, and Mark shrugged, sheepishly admitting "I hope it helps--" and not being able to even blink another look of worry in Donghyuck's direction before they were being ushered on stage.

Donghyuck couldn't speak that night. He and Mark settled to continue their game of tic tac toe with ice cream and a few tissues because Donghyuck was crying because his throat hurt so bad. Donghyuck wasn't in the mood to place his **X** , and Mark didn't make him. Donghyuck let Mark skip his turn and place another **O** \-- insisted on it with some gestures and silenced Mark's protest with a spoonful of strawberry ice cream. Mark placed his **O**  one step above Donghyuck's middle **X** , and realized he could win with one more turn-- it was up to Donghyuck. Would he put his **X**  in the bottom right corner and let Mark win, or would he put his **X**  in the top left corner and make it a draw?

Mark didn't find out until the next day, when Donghyuck woke him up so they could continue. Donghyuck had toast and a rough voice; he'd made himself honey tea and made a cup for Mark, too. They sat down to play tic tac toe and Donghyuck picked up the pencil. Mark awaited Donghyuck's move, watching his hand travel closer and closer to the board as Donghyuck seemingly wondered where he should put his **X**. Donghyuck looked up at Mark before he placed the letter; Mark looked up at him when he noticed Donghyuck's hesitation. Donghyuck was smiling at him in a way that may look like a smirk should the rest of his expression not be so soft. His pencil scratched twice-- _line, line_ , and Mark looked down to see a pencil's eraser pointed in his direction, and a spot left for his winning **O**. Mark looked back at Donghyuck and saw his encouraging expression, and he took the pencil, his fingers brushing Donghyuck's as he did. He carefully drew his **O**  and put the pencil down, signalling the end of the game -- and Mark had won.

"I'm sorry about your throat, Donghyuck." Mark said. Donghyuck shrugged, sipping on his honey tea. He didn't even look at Mark-- not that it mattered. He couldn't say anything; he was on vocal rest for the rest of the week. Mark felt stupid about even bringing it up, but he'd won tic tac toe and he couldn't even help but say it anymore-- "I-I love you, Donghyuck."

Donghyuck nodded, sending a finger heart in Mark's direction. He didn't quite understand. Mark stood from his bed and carefully crawled onto Donghyuck's. Donghyuck finally looked up from his phone, a mouthful of tea beneath his lips. He swallowed heavily when he saw Mark's expression; he let his phone fall farther away from his face so he could concentrate on Mark. Mark's rant didn't stop him from sipping his tea here and there, but Mark knew he had Donghyuck's undivided attention-- "This past week has been special to me, Donghyuck. I-I don't know-- it's been a while since we've gotten to play around and since I've gotten to take care of you, and now-- I want to take care of you more than ever, so... I guess now is as good a time as I'll get to tell you that I really, _really_  love you, Donghyuck--like, the type of love where I've kind of been pining for _your_ love for three years."

Donghyuck just stared at Mark for a long, long moment, but it didn't make Mark that nervous because Donghyuck couldn't talk. But then Donghyuck parted his lips and started to croak out "I--" but Mark placed a hand over his lips, "No! No, don't talk-- your throat--" but Donghyuck shoved him away, a glare in his eyes. He grabbed Mark by the collar and pulled him closer, placed a lingering kiss on his lips and croaked out "I love you, too," and then some throaty laughter and an embarrassed blush.

"I'll say it better next week," Donghyuck promised Mark and then proceeded to be silent for the rest of the night, only sipping his tea and playing with Mark's fingers and kissing his nose when he wanted Mark's attention-- and most of the time he wanted the elder's attention was when he wanted to play up his puppy dog eyes and tilt his empty cup toward Mark in order to beg for more honey tea. (Mark thought their tic tac toe board should be bigger so he could fill it up with **O** s.)

**Author's Note:**

> do I write too much markhyuck?  
> [x] yes [ ] no  
>  ** _just kidding_** there's no such thing as too much markhyuck


End file.
